There's a lot going on now with two of my startups, STORM and STRATA.
People movement, scaling, fire-fighting, creating processes, client meetings, projects, you name it, we're doing it right now. For STORM specifically, we usually do systems implementation around this time in preparation for the coming year. Plus we're also renewing with all our current clients. These next few weeks leading up to the first quarter of 2014 will be quite taxing for our team.
I wish there were two of me sometimes.
November marks the 2nd year anniversary of JGL's first post. While the blog has been growing and our events have been successful. There's so much that I've wanted to do in JGL which we … [Read more...]

Our Brief Fling With Payroll
More than a few years ago, when STORM was finding out first hand that we still needed to educate the market about flexible benefits, we were scrambling on ways on how to generate more sales.
I had an idea.
"Let's offer payroll!"
My several justifications were many: to be known as both a compensation AND benefits services company, "payroll wasn't rocket science", and the idea that we could just use the current system we developed internally to run it.
Because there were many competitors, we couldn't put quite a big enough margin per sale. So I figured, we could make up for it with a bit of volume. Our minimum price was around P15-20K per month for a … [Read more...]

I have to admit, I was worried about the 2-month absence of Open Coffee.
Would we lose momentum?
Would people still go?
Will the pitches be just as good?
It turns out, my fears were unfounded.
I thought October Open Coffee was super!
For starters, after the 2 months, it was great to see the holdovers / familiar faces (around 20 or so, you know who you are) who keep on coming back. You practically feel like family.
Next, I thought, we just had the MOST DIVERSE SET OF PITCHES we've ever had. And if you've been to Open Coffee before and heard the pitches, you'd know this is saying a lot.
Let's see....
We had an OFW-children's support group, a fashion data aggregator, … [Read more...]

(Part one of this series can be found here)
In part 1, I talk about how the combination of how EVERYONE having something special to offer and the current technology infrastructure now enable ANYONE to build her own startup.
So the question is: why isn't everyone rushing to do so?
Here are 3 factors why:
1) The Information Gap
The first reason is simply ignorance.
We live in a society where our school systems still (by and large) marshall us and train us for the corporate and factory environment.
For a typical college graduate, her primary (and chances are, only) professional concern after graduation is "to get a job."
The thought of pursuing her own thing and standing … [Read more...]

Last 23 slots for OPEN COFFEE!
Since we're holding the event in a slightly smaller venue than our usual 47 EAST, we're limiting the slots to around 80 people.
As of 5pm today, 57 people have already confirmed, so I advise clicking here to reserve your slot now before they run out.
You can REGISTER HERE.
See you at Centerpoint Ortigas on Saturday! … [Read more...]